Not your mother’s WIC program

A government nutrition program for low-income women, infants and children under age 5 is embracing technology to make it easier for participants to use their benefits and eat healthier.

The Colorado Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children program has launched WICShopper, a free smartphone app that allows WIC families to scan product bar codes to determine whether the food is WIC-eligible, check food benefit account balances and download recipes.

Colorado WIC also released a new list of allowable foods aimed at improving nutrition and choice. These innovations cap a year of change that saw the program replace paper checks with a debit-style eWIC card, provide increased online and phone options to reduce required in-person clinic visits and implement text messaging to communicate with WIC families.  

“Because most of our WIC families are tech-savvy millennials, we are using technology to make it easier for them to get the nutrition support they need,” said Erin Ulric, nutrition services branch director.

New technology employed during the past year, Ulric said, has led to improved access to the program, better retention of program participants, fewer missed appointments, better data collection and, most important, a better shopping experience for WIC families and participating grocers.
 

The full article is available in our e-Edition. Click here to subscribe.